OfS announces new free speech complaint scheme

By Dana Datu, News Deputy Editor

Those eligible include past or present university staff, visiting speakers, applicants for academic posts, and non-student members.

It encapsulates the OfS’s (Office for Students) strategy for 2025 to 2030 to ensure that all students from diverse backgrounds benefit from high-quality higher education.

The process will evaluate formal complaints made against its registered institutions, such as universities and colleges, in a fair and timely manner before suggesting recommendations. This may include the reinstatement of a research programme or the re-invitation of a visiting speaker. 

The OfS provides an overview of the free speech complaints scheme along with its specific rules - including how to submission and review process of a free speech complaint.

To maintain transparency, the OfS will publish the outcome of a complaint, including the institution involved, the reasons for its decision, and any recommendations moving forward. Additionally, the OfS will hold briefing sessions for institutional staff on the scheme's overall process.

Students will have to continue submitting free speech complaints through the established OIAHE channel (Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education), the independent body that reviews student complaints. 

Starting in April 2027, new registration conditions for providers indicate that the OfS will intervene when institutions breach the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act (2023). The OfS will consult on proposals for these conditions before applying them to all registered universities.

Arif Ahmed, Director for Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom at the OfS, discussed the importance of free speech and academic freedom in higher education, even if it includes ‘difficult, contentious or discomforting topics.’

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He discussed how this complaints scheme will protect those basic rights and allow every institution to benefit from the exchange of topics and ideas to advance knowledge. Academics have also been assured that their freedom to teach and research will be upheld. 

Ahmed ended on behalf of the OfS by thanking the registered institutions for their continued collaboration, noting that they will soon share the new registration conditions and that they look forward to feedback from all interested parties. 

Featured Image: Epigram / Sophie Maclaren